[simspark-devel] HingeJointEffector parameter units

[Drew N. <dre...@ya...>]

Hello all,

This is my first post to this list after listening quietly for a little while.

I discovered SimSpark after visiting the Japan Open RoboCup event in Osaka earlier this year and have really been enjoying playing with the 3D simulator.  I generally program in .NET and am in the process of making a .NET library to allow people to code their own agents without needing such a deep knowledge of the simulator itself.  There are a few base-code libraries around for C++ and Java, but I haven't seen any for .NET.  I'm tidying up the code before releasing it, hopefully later in the week.  It will support (and ultimately come with examples in) C#, VB.NET, managed C++ and the functional programming language F#.

One thing I'm stuck on is what the number I send to control a hinge's position actually means.  I've seen references to it being an angle, though it clearly isn't.  A measure of angular speed might be more accurate, but it doesn't appear to be in degree/sec or radian/sec.  My best guess after running some contrived tests is that it's a measure of force exerted by the motor, or maybe even a current/voltage.  I'd like to specify this value as exactly as possible in my library.  Can someone please explain the units of this value and how it's used in the physical simulation?  I'd like to determine how to obtain the maximum power from an agent's joints without having unstable oscillations. 

Kind regards,

Drew.


PS. Should I have posted this to sserver-three-d instead/as well?